


Spiderwebs in the Wind

by Thiyr



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, For Want of a Nail, Humanstuck, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-08 22:16:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4322808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thiyr/pseuds/Thiyr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of a drunken phone call to her ex, Vriska Serket makes the decision to stop running. Facing your mistakes has to be better than failing to move on.</p><p>A For Want of a Nail for <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/kankrisredsweater/">kankrisredsweater's</a> <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/865120/chapters/1659615">"His Camera Captures Moments</a> in which John never goes to pick up Vriska.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [His Camera Captures Moments](https://archiveofourown.org/works/865120) by [kankrisredsweater](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kankrisredsweater/pseuds/kankrisredsweater). 



> While reading [HCCM](http://archiveofourown.org/works/865120/chapters/1659615), I was struck by a great many feels, which inspired me to start writing this. After getting the go ahead from [kankrisredsweater's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kankrisredsweater/), out popped this, with more coming at some point. This is set following chapter 16. If you haven't read [HCCM](http://archiveofourown.org/works/865120/chapters/1659615) I recommend it, it's pretty dang good and will make this make a bit more sense. [Do it!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/865120/chapters/1659615)

It had been a long day for Rose LaLonde. That wasn't to say she _minded_ that. She had been booked solid at work, but she knew her patients were making breakthroughs. A rewarding day, the kind of day that made her love her job. She filed the last of the day's paperwork away, put on her coat, and got ready to walk out the door, ready to finally go home. Unfortunately, she didn't make it past the door before her plans were changed on her.

 

“Vriska Serket. I must admit, I was not expecting to see you of all people at my door.”

 

“Look, I know you probably don't want anything to do with me, but can we talk?” Rose noticed how tense Vriska was. Her hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists, but she didn't look like she was getting ready to hit anything. She guessed it couldn't hurt to be civil.

 

“I was about to go home, but I suppose I can spare a few minutes. Just let me make a quick phone call.” She beckoned Vriska inside, pulled her phone out of her bag as she followed, and scrolled through her contacts.

 

“I'm really sorry, Kan, but something just came up at work. I'll be a little late getting home, okay? Love you.” She put the phone back, and looked back up to her guest. “So, what did you need to talk about?”

 

“I...god, I don't even know why I decided to talk to you about this. Seriously, we met all of once, and I can't imagine I left any kind of good impression, even before I fucked things up with John, right? I mean why would you even let me in here right now?” Vriska rambled. She sat down on the couch, though, still-clenched hands resting on her knees.

 

“Let me get you a drink.” Rose interrupted, turning around and grabbing a clear plastic cup and filling it from the half-full pitcher she had forgotten to empty. Vriska pried one hand open, and for a second stared at her palm, not having realized just how tight her grip had been. She took a sip, took a deep breath, and started again.

 

“I did something stupid last night. Really stupid” Rose raised an eyebrow, waiting for Vriska to continue. “I drunk-dialed John.”

 

Vriska sighed and looked down at her feet. _Oh_ , thought Rose. _This is going to end well._ ”And what did you say to him?”

 

“I drunk-dialed him.” she said, as if that explained everything. “I told him I was drunk, and I needed a ride, and...I said that I missed him. He was...well, I don't think he was happy to hear from me.”

 

“I can't imagine why.”

 

“Right? And you know what he did? He called me a cab. He called me a fucking cab!” Her voice rose, clearly bothered.

 

“You expected him to come pick you up?” Rose asked.

 

“I wanted him to. But he said he was dealing with an emergency, something unexpected he couldn't step away from.” Rose expected to hear grumbling, and so was surprised to hear resignation instead. “So yeah. I wake up this morning, hoping it was just another shitty tequila induced nightmare. Check my phone, and guess what? No such luck.”

 

Vriska went quiet. Rose spent a moment processing the story in full before speaking,slowly and softly. “I see. That was, in fact, a very stupid thing to do. The only part that I don't quite understand is why all of this meant you needed to talk to me of all people.” Of course, that was a bit of a lie. Rose also couldn’t help but wonder what Vriska had done about this the rest of the day. Still, first things first.

 

“I...” Vriska paused, struggling to start. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “I can't do this anymore. I don't know how much John really told you about me. I traveled a lot. All around the world. It made things easy, y'know? If I like a place, I stay. If something's good, I keep it with me. If something starts going bad, I leave, I get rid of it. And I tried to do that here. I left, for a while. Went to visit my cousin, clear my head. Jumped around for a while. And after all that, the only thing I wanted to do was come back here. Every time I try to forget it. Go back to the way it was before all of this. I try to stay away, and every time I end up back here. I just...It's like I'm this spider, spinning its web around itself to stay safe. But then the breeze picks up and throws the whole thing up in the air, right? And its terrifying at first, but the spider cracks open the web and starts to ride the wind and it’s just so exhilarating. But spiders, they don't know how to fly. It keeps trying to control where it’s going, to keep on riding the wind, and it ends up driving itself into the ground. So it goes back and tries to spin itself its little web, except all it wants is to fly again. It can't afford to open up its web but the breeze is gone and the spider just can't...I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I fucked up. I know it. But I wasn't lying when I said I miss him. He's...He was my first real home. The only person I felt like I could really open up to. Now..” She slumped down, finally giving in to exhaustion. “I don't know what to do. I can't just barge back into his life, but I can't get myself to walk away. Please. Help me.”

 

Rose sighed. “You're right. You can't just come back as if you never left. He made his peace with you leaving.” Vriska winced at that, but stayed quiet. “Still, I have a few suggestions for you. I can't promise anything, of course, but it may help. First off, drinking is not going to help you. A shot of courage may help you pick up the phone, but it never helps you say the right words. Second: Let it go where it is going to go. You don't get to control who you are to him. Put yourself out there, offer a little bit, and let him decide if he wants to talk. If he says no, don't push him. And finally...” Rose walked over to her desk, and wrote a time and date on a sticky note. “Against my better judgment, here. Show up at the Starbucks near the waterfront then. Nothing is going to happen if you don't take that first leap of faith and just say something. I'll give you some space. And if you need to talk again afterward...Please make an appointment.” Rose grinned slightly, and the joke was enough to get Vriska to chuckle.

 

“Y'know, you're all right, Rose. Thanks.” They both stood up.

 

Rose tilted her head in acknowledgment. “Now, if you will excuse me, I really do need to be getting home.”

 

Vriska closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before opening them again. Rose was surprised. If she hadn't been here talking to Vriska, she would never have thought anything had been wrong. Vriska spoke again, an air of cheer that hadn’t been there a moment before. “I should get going too. Thanks again for the advice, we'll see how this turns out.” With that, Vriska walked out the door, her head held high and bravado in her step. Rose sighed, shook her head, and followed her out, locking the door behind her.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go! Don't ask me how John paid for that cab, he used his Handwave Express card. Expect these two to talk more in the future as well, it worked far better than I expected it to at first. Thanks again to [kankrisredsweater's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kankrisredsweater/) for letting me do this in the first place. And because it hasn't been linked enough quite yet, [HCCM.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/865120/chapters/1659615)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! Took longer to get up than I wanted, but here it is! Ch 3 has a good deal of progress done as well, so that shouldn't take quite so long to get up either.

Vriska’s mind was running itself ragged. She had gone home after seeing Rose, stuck the note she got on her fridge, crawled into bed, and proceeded to stress over anything she could think of that could go wrong. It was all baseless worrying, but knowing that didn’t make it any easier to ignore. What if she overslept and missed the whole thing? What if she missed the bus and got there late? What if Rose had lied, giving her a bogus time and place to save John the trouble of dealing with her? But one scared her more than any thought of accident or treachery.

 

“What if he just doesn’t want to talk?”

 

The empty room held no response. She continued to lay there for a moment in silence, letting the thought sink in. Then she sat up, leaning against her wall, and began laughing, a tired and mirthless laugh. _Look at me, losing sleep like I’m a thirteen year old worrying about asking someone to a school dance or something. What the hell am I doing?_

 

She looked at her alarm clock, wondering what time it was, and groaned as she realized how far past midnight it was. Still, she twisted out of bed, making her way through the dark to her fridge. Her eyes burned when she opened the door, her eyes taking their sweet time adjusting. It was usually a bit better stocked, but she hasn't been lying about being short on cash. She wasn't going to starve, but things would be a bit lean for a few days.

 

She considered her options for a minute, scanning over the contents of the fridge before realizing that no, she wasn't really hungry. She was, however, eying the bottle of tequila she had left sitting in there. It was half-empty, but it would still be enough to do something. But even as she reached for it, an echo from earlier rattled in her brain. _Drinking is not going to help you. A shot of courage may help you pick up the phone, but it never helps you say the right words._

 

"I mean, it would just be to help calm me down, right? Nothing wrong with a nightcap after a stressful day. Shouldn’t be a problem."

 

Vriska’s half-hearted attempts at justifications weren’t convincing anyone, not even herself. She left the bottle in the fridge untouched. That had been the source of all this anyway, not worth risking a repeat performance. Never mind that this had all been building for a while now, it was the alcohol’s fault. Right.

 

She closed the fridge door and made her way back to bed, throwing herself onto the mattress. She tossed and turned fitfully, fighting to make herself comfortable so she could doze off.  It was going to be a long week.

 

* * *

 

As long as the week had been, it had done wonders for Vriska’s nerves. Apparently knowing just when it was time to freak out meant she could make herself busy in the days leading up to it. Hell, she even knocked out an article she had been putting off writing for way too long.

 

Of course, that just meant that the panic was fresh and new again now that she was standing in line to get coffee. Waking up early was the exact opposite of what she needed to do. After breakfast she had hours to kill and nothing to do but work herself up over what was going to happen. She had briefly contemplated not showing up. It wasn’t like John knew she was coming, right? Its not like he would know. That is, unless Rose warned John that Vriska had met with her. _Shit, why didn’t I think of that earlier?_

 

With that wonderful thought in her mind, Vriska spent the rest of her morning trying to figure out what her game plan was. She planned through her shower, schemed as she got dressed, plotted through breakfast, and pondered her way out the door. And so she found herself waiting in line to order a coffee she wasn’t sure she’d even be able to actually drink, trying to figure out exactly what she was going to do.

 

Rose had been sitting at a table in the back corner with John. She must have thought ahead, because she made sure she was the one facing the door. John wouldn’t be able to see anybody coming in if he was facing Rose. Vriska couldn’t help but feel relieved at that little mercy. She tried to make eye contact with Rose, and was fairly certain Rose had noticed her. She couldn’t be certain though, Rose’s expression was one of unbreaking somberness

 

And then she was at the register, the barista waiting for an order she had been too distracted to think of while standing in line. _Way to go, genius._ She scanned the menu quickly before making a snap decision to get a iced tiramisu latte. It sounded interesting and she hadn’t had one before, so why not? Sometimes it payed off to try something new on a whim.

 

A thought struck Vriska. Why was she trying to plan out what she was going to say? Meeting John happened on a whim. Asking him to dinner, getting together, she hadn’t planned any of that. Why _not_ go for a repeat performance? Fuck it, Vriska Serket was gonna wing it.

 

Rose stood up, drawing Vriska’s attention. Thankfully, John was still sitting, sipping his drink as Rose made her way over to where Vriska was waiting.

 

“Vriska, I am so sorry, but I completely forgot you were going to be here today. It has been an extremely difficult week, so this completely slipped my mind.” _So much for clever planning, Rose._ Vriska couldn’t help but notice now how tired Rose looked.

 

“You okay? I can do this later if it’s a bad time.” That wasn’t to say Vriska would enjoy doing this later. Still, she wasn’t completely heartless. Rose didn’t seem the forgetful type, little as Vriska had talked to her, so if she was that out of sorts it was probably something serious.

 

“I’ll be fine. I really should get going anyway though. I said I needed to make a call, so I’ll head back over and let him know I’m leaving.” Vriska knew well enough that Rose wasn’t entirely honest with her. Still, sometimes you had to let people believe what they needed to.

 

“Okay. Well, I still owe you for this, so you need anything,” Vriska grabbed a napkin and a pen and scrawled out her number, “you give me a call, okay?” Vriska hated feeling indebted to anyone, so she figured this was a fair way to pay Rose back.

 

“My my, Vriska. Giving your number to a taken woman. Is there no low you won’t sink to?” Rose gave Vriska a tired grin. “Thank you. And for what it’s worth? Good luck.”

 

Rose went back to the table. Vriska gave it a minute, both to let Rose finish up and to wait on her coffee. Apparently she had a tricky name, because it took three or four calls for "Trisha" before she realized it was done. Rose was just turning away from the table, and John looked about ready to get up as well. Well, it's now or never.

 

Vriska made her way to the table. Fighting every urge to turn around and walk out the door, she stepped behind John and tapped him on the shoulder.

 

"Hey, John. Can we talk?"

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confident as Vriska tries to make herself seem to be, I feel like when something actually matters to her, she gets all kinds of anxious internally. This does not play well with her making mistakes, big or small. Still, she made it, so she just has to survive talking to John. 
> 
> Thanks again to [kankrisredsweater](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kankrisredsweater/pseuds/kankrisredsweater) for letting me make this/having such a good fic for me to base it on in the first place, and thanks to [my good friend acheaptrickandacheesyoneline](http://archiveofourown.org/users/acheaptrickandacheesyoneline/pseuds/acheaptrickandacheesyoneline) for editing-type stuff. 
> 
> Oh, I should probably mention that I have a [tumblr](http://thedouglastrap.tumblr.com/) if you feel like bothering me with anything at all. I mean, you'll have a hard time because it won't really be a bother at all, I'm down to talk, but still, you can give it a shot.


End file.
